One Hour Before

Adelaine hastily re-sewed a small pearl onto her olive green over sleeve, alone in the First Year dorm. A second year girl had tripped over something and accidentally ripped it off when she grabbed a hold of it. The common room was in absolute chaos, and her room was the only place where she could hear herself think.

“Adele, will you help with my hair ribbons?” Jayne, a fellow first year, asked anxiously.

“Certainly,” she responded absent-mindedly. “Just let me finish this.”

Jayne, impatient as ever, stomped off to find someone else. With the last thread in place, Adelaine smiled and admired her work. All those hours spent learning to sew (as all ladies do) finally paid off. Fastening a tie on her maroon/brown under-layer gown, Adelaine decided to go downstairs. She found Marigold looking around in all the commotion.

“Need help with anything?”

[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

((OOC: Um, I don’t know what your hair looks like on your doll, so I’m improvising. I’ll edit later when you tell me.))

Adelaine looked at her friend’s dress, then stared intently at Marigold. Hopefully she wasn’t freaking her out; she was trying to think of how she should wear her hair. An updo wouldn’t really work with that neckline. And a simple braid was too, well…simple.

“I think you should wear it down,” she suggested brightly, sitting across from her. “Maybe pull back a few parts. And do you have a hairpiece?”

Adelaine herself planned on wearing her hair down in the back, with the top layer pulled back into a braided bun, and two braids coming down in the front. She would wear the same pearl pins she wore to the feast.

“I’m not really nervous,” she said slowly, then changed her mind. “Actually, I am. I’ve got two valentines…what do I even do about that?”

Adelaine didn’t even have time to react, everything happened so fast. Her dress was now a messy array of black and red, and she could tell by the way Marigold was looking at her that wasn’t all that had changed. Adele almost didn’t care, though; she tried to keep the laughter in, but it was no use.

“Oh my…HAHA!… Marigold..hahaha!…Your…ahahaha!..Your hair…hahahahaha!.. it’s…” she tried to speak in between laughs. “It’s green!”

Then she totally lost it. Doubled over, she laughed harder than she’d ever laughed before. Some of the crying girls took a cue from her and loosened up as well, realizing that it was a rather funny situation they were all in. Pretty soon, the entire common room was hooting, guffawing, chuckling, and any other word used to describe laughter.

Adelaine could see that Marigold obviously wasn’t finding the situation as amusing as everyone else. What was her problem? They had plenty of time, she saw no reason to throw the girls into complete chaos again by worrying them.

“Your hair is fine,” she said shortly, gathering her things.

Her joyful mood was back to normal thanks to Marigold’s announcement. The atmosphere in the common room was totally changed, it was like a funeral procession. Without saying another word, Adelaine went back to her dorm. She spread her clothing out on the bed and took out her wand.

“Finite incantatum,” she chanted, watching the colors change. Then she went to her mirror and changed her hair and eyes after a few tries.

Marigold could tell that she had set Adele in a bad mood. She sighed and continued on her dress.

"Here. Let me help."Helena said, walking up to her. She used the charm on Marigold's eyes (they had turned some gold color!) and then worked the charm on Marigold's dress.

"Thank you so much."Marigold said happily. She looked up the steps to the girls dorms.

"Don't worry about Adele. She won't be angry for long."Helena said, patting her on the back and going to help some other girls. Marigold nodded and rushed to the first years dorm. She hastily put on her dress and looked at herself in the mirror. Now, the hair.she thought. She gathered her bangs and pulled them back. Then, she took a couple bunches of her hair and wrapped a golden ribbon around it. A few bangs had come down and she took those and curled them around her finger, leaving them down. Nothing to elegant.she thought to herself as she pinned a yellow rose to her gown. That's how she would know who her valentine was.

She then went deep into her truck and pulled out a small box. She smiled and opened it. It was a small red broach that Madam de Hattes gave to her. Madam de Hattes was going to throw it away but instead gave it to Marigold about two years ago. She carefully pinned it where the fabric met and smiled to herself. Then, came the hard part. This was the only piece of jewelry she had. She looked at Adele, but then decided against it. She's probably still mad at me for ruining the mood. I best not ask.she thought, sitting on her bed and rummaging through her trunk. When was the last time I wrote to mother? It must have been Christmas.she thought, looking at the old letters. What a depressing thought.

[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

Adelaine made a few finishing touches to her gown in the nearly silent dorm room. She hadn’t spoken to Marigold in at least thirty minutes, and now the moment was nearly upon them - the Valentine’s Day dance. Bloody hell, she cursed to herself, feeling a bit like Arya.

“Marigold!” she shouted, startling a couple small girl’s in the corner. “Do you realize we’re about to go? To the dance? The Valentine’s Day dance? To meet our valentines? And dance?”

How was this just occurring to her? Apparently the thought had never totally settled in until now. It was like the day she found out Emmy was moving to England…. Adele was now even more frightened when she realized this, too, had yet to settle in. She rushed to the mirror and fixed her hair. Ten minutes to go. Gesturing nervously to Marigold, she rushed down the stairs with the other girls.

“Let’s go, let’s go!” Helena was shouting.

The boys finally ventured anxiously into the common room. They may as well have formed a single file line, it was like the entire house of Ravenclaw was walking to the Great Hall together. Adele looked around and found Marigold.

“Good luck,” she said, heading out.